FIST quoted in the Economist!

Ann Menasche from FIST was recently interviewed by The Economist about transgender-identified males being placed in women’s prisons. This is already the law in California. The reporter recognized that there is a conflict of rights here and that male violence is pervasive. She was sympathetic to FIST’s position that women’s sex-based rights to privacy, dignity, and safety mattered and that sex and gender identity are not the same thing.

We are slowly starting to break down the wall of silence and complicity in the media and getting our voices heard.  It is very important that the media begin to cover these issues in an unbiased manner, rather than acceding to the demands of the transgender lobby to present only that viewpoint. We recommend the media follow the WoLF Media+Style+Guide which outlines a way to report on these issues in a more balanced manner.

International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women 25 November

On this the UN International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, we wish to remember and honor all of the natal women whose lives have been lost due to male violence.   Men murdering women is a pandemic of its own, and we must raise the alarm!  Women Count USA has been documenting this outrage and the numbers are overwhelming:  3, moving to 4, women A DAY are murdered by men, that’s 21-28 women A WEEK, 90-120 women A MONTH, and 1095-1460 A YEAR!  This outrage must end and the only way it will is if men are held accountable for their criminal conduct and if men begin to hold themselves and other men accountable for their acts of violence against women.

Chilean Women’s Protest

 An extraordinary protest by our Chilean sisters– now also picked up in Brazil and in countries around the world!

And a translation posted on Monthly Review online:

Patriarchy is a judge
That judges us for being born
And our punishment
Is the violence you see

It is femicide
It is impunity for my killer
It is disappearances
It is rape

And the blame wasn’t mine
Or where I was
Or how I dressed

The rapist is you
They are the cops
The judges
The state
The president

The oppressive state is a macho rapist
The rapist is you
‘Sleep well innocent little girl, without worrying about bandits; your sweet dreams and smile will be watched over by the policemen who love you’.
The rapist is you

The context of the lyrics are explained further here in a post from the Radical History Review by Margaret Power.  The protest started in Santiago to commemorate the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.  Power remarks,”In just a few short weeks, the powerful lyrics, catchy tune, and dramatic moves that comprise the hymn have become a global symbol of women’s anger and their repudiation of the misogynist violence and gendered discrimination that permeate the world. However, the performances do more than denounce male violence; the choreographed movements, chorus-like singing, and collective spirit also embody and promote women’s solidarity. They tell women they are not alone and alert the perpetrators to beware – they will not escape the fury of women’s justified outrage.”

FIST on WBAI Radio!

Ann Menasche of Feminists in Struggle (FIST) will be interviewed by Fran Luck on the Joy of Resistance show on WBAI Radio Thursday, April 25, 2019 at 7-8 pm EDT (4-5 pm PDT).

Ann is a Civil Rights lawyer and has been a radical feminist and a socialist activist for her entire adult life. She organized a lesbian feminist group and mass marches in defense of abortion rights in the 1980’s in San Francisco and led a coalition for marriage equality. Recently she became a founding member of a new national radical feminist organization: Feminists in Struggle–or FIST–which was launched on International Women’s Day, March 8, 2019.  The interview will explore why a number of women across the country saw the need for a new feminist organization–including the fact that FIST, unlike other feminist organizations that are gender critical, does not believe in making alliances with the right wing and sees its positions as belonging in a revitalized Left. Its issues also include reproductive freedom, passing the ERA, and an end to men’s violence against women–as well as the abolition of gender.

You can tune in at: Joy of Resistance at WBAI. The show will also feature Taina Bian Aime of the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women–CATW) on the fight against legalization of commercial surrogacy in New York State.  There may be an opportunity to call in during the show.

For more information, go to:Joy of Resistance Info